Sent Packing: Eagles outclassed by Green Bay in hideous loss

— At least there's a lot more clarity for the Philadelphia Eagles now than there was heading into their Sunday matchup against the Green Bay Packers, the playoff pecking order in the NFC becoming more apparent by the second.

For example, they know now that they almost certainly will have to win the NFC East just to have a chance to win one home game in January before going on the road and winning two in a row at venues like Glendale, Ariz., San Francisco or Green Bay in January if they are to reach the Super Bowl.

They know this because they were embarrassed by the Packers, 53-20, keeping them at the bottom of the NFC's elite pecking order, behind the Packers, Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers, who have all beaten them this season, not to mention the Detroit Lions, who have a better record.

In fact, the Eagles (7-3) haven't beaten any NFC teams with winning records and never had a chance in this latest opportunity as quarterback Aaron Rodgers (22-for-36, 341 yards, three TDs) and the Packers (7-3) buried them early and never gave them a chance to breathe.

Rodgers' work actually was done by early in the fourth quarter, when Matt Flynn was sent in to finish off the massacre.

While Rodgers flourished, his Eagles counterpart, who didn't play a very good game himself, was undermined by mediocre play from his receivers, leaky protection, repeated struggles to run the ball and conservative play-calling from a head coach who still doesn't have a strong sense of when to punt, when to kick and when to go for it on fourth down in games that go haywire.

Mark Sanchez could never establish any offensive continuity for a variety of reasons, making the 346 yards and two touchdown passes he wound up with hollow. Sanchez also threw two interceptions, including one that was returned 52 yards for a touchdown by Julius Peppers.

Wide receivers Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson each finished with more than 100 receiving yards for the Packers, who remain undefeated at home and have broken the 50-point plateau in each of their last two games.

The Packers also produced a special teams score when Micah Hyde took a punt return to the house for a 75-yard TD.

Not to be outdone, they added a second defensive score when Casey Hayward recovered a wild shotgun snap and took it 49 yards for a touchdown.

"Obviously against a good team, coming in on the road, these are the games you try to get yourself up for, the games you really want to go out there and perform well in," wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said. "And we didn't do that tonight.

"But it's still just one game. We're sitting at 7-3, a lot of football left."

Just one game and just one loss, the margin of which doesn't matter. It was the prevailing theme in the postgame locker room from players and coaches trying to come to terms with how it all went down.

"Obviously it's not how we planned for it to go," safety Macolm Jenkins said, "but regardless of what it looked like, a loss is just one loss, and we'll pick up our heads and move on."

Defensive coordinator Billy Davis, who faced similar questions after the Eagles dropped a 52-20 decision to Denver early last season, projected essentially the same outlook after this game as he did then, when the team responded by limiting opponents to 21 points or less for the next nine games.

"We'll fix what was wrong out there today," he said. "We'll work hard at it. We have a confident group of guys that hang together, and we know that every now and then you have days like this. You don't want them, but they happen in the NFL. I believe even Green Bay had one of these earlier in the season.

"We have to respond now, we have to work our tails off and get back and learn from what happened today."

Though no players would admit it, the short week had a lot to do with the result as well. Going on the road after a Monday night game all but guarantees the visitors won't be as sharp with their thinking or as fresh with their legs.

That was evident on the third play from scrimmage, when Rodgers heaved a 64-yard bomb to Jordy Nelson down the right sideline over Bradley Fletcher. This, after multiple Eagles defenders stated all week that the No. 1 thing they expected from the Packers was Rodgers trying to connect with Nelson on a big play early.

Knowing what was coming was not enough.

In the first quarter alone, Rodgers converted a third-and-9, third-and-18 and third-and-10. By the end of the half, he would also convert a third-and-6 and third-and-12.

"[They] were probably the most disappointing because we had 'em third-and-manageable for us and he kept executing and we didn't," Davis said. "I give him the credit. And us? We just had a bad day."

Not even the Eagles' spectacular special teams units were themselves on this day, and after Hyde hit his return late in the first quarter to make it 17-0, the game went from shaky to total disaster for the Eagles, who allowed Rodgers to drive the Packers 80 yards on just six plays for their next TD, a 27-yard completion from Rodgers to Nelson.

Head coach Chip Kelly made some puzzling decisions that didn't help matters either.

Trailing 24-3, he elected to punt on fourth-and-six from the Green Bay 48 midway through the second quarter, resulting in a net gain of just 28 yards. The Packers scored a touchdown on the ensuing series anyway.

Then, on the final play of the first half, with his team trailing by 27, he elected to have Cody Parkey kick a 33-yard field goal.

"We had the ball in the red zone twice in the first half," Kelly said. "You can't come away with three points. You have to come away with seven and keep the game close, especially with how well Aaron was playing.

"We didn't generate pressure on Aaron the way we needed to generate pressure, so he picked us apart in the first half."

Sunday's loss was a total team effort.

Rebounding from it next week at home against Tennessee will present another challenge.

"I think we're going to be fine as a team," center Jason Kelce said. "I think that we'll rebound and get back on track. It stings whenever you take a loss like this, obviously, especially with how well we had been playing, for the most part.

"… It's my job to make sure I get my mistakes corrected and we get this thing back on track."